Flash Fiction Slam at BAC

Full marks to the Bridport Arts Centre for putting on this event – partly designed to encourage writers to enter The Bridport Prize (which includes a prize for flash fiction and one for a local writer).

I was asked to judge, along with Kim Squirrell of Ink and Page, a poet and short story writer. I love a slam – the slightly nervous, buzzy atmosphere; the very fact that writers are brave enough to stand up on stage and read out their own 250 words.

The MC was Declan Duffy who kept a smooth hold on proceedings. Kim and I made frantic notes as everybody read, so that we could remember each piece and what we liked or didn’t like about it.

The evening passed in a flash 🙂 Kim and I retired to a quiet room to discuss the readings and meanwhile The People (the audience) also cast their vote.

Judging is partially subjective, of course. There were certain pieces that we both admired; others that we were able to ‘dismiss’ quite easily. A successful piece of flash fiction will have a point, perhaps a theme; certainly it will be more than an anecdote. It will hopefully be entertaining (perhaps even funny) and hopefully also thought-provoking. A good piece will contain gems that make us stop and take note.

It is hard not to be influenced by presentation – this is a slam after all, so make it count. If a reader speaks in a whisper, how can we hear the gems..? But interestingly, a few days later, Kim and I got to read the three winning entries. Would we have judged differently if we could have read the entries as well as listened to them, before making a decision? Possibly…

But a slam is about immediate impact. No time for second thoughts. Kim and I were in broad agreement (though we placed the top three in a different order) and for the first time ever, our number 1 matched the People’s number 1.

Was the evening a success? Most definitely.

 

 

Writing at the Finca March 2022

It was bliss to be back in Andalusia at the Finca el Cerrillo for the first time in two years. There were sixteen of us in all (two people brought their partners which is always rather nice and adds to the social mix). And it was busy…

For the first time ever we had no less than five published writers in the group… This may sound daunting to an inexperienced writer who is thinking about coming along, but believe me, the reality is nothing of the kind. Others would class themselves as ‘beginner writers’, we are all readers and the combination works as long as the morning exercises can be used beneficially by all. Everyone helped everyone else – this was an incredibly supportive and inclusive group.

The favourite ‘morning exercise’ was probably the one we did to explore dialogue-writing in pairs. We began by creating characters from pictures, continued with some guided writing to get to know them better and then found their voices in a shared script that was passed to and fro within each pair. The results were funny, thought-provoking and sometimes unexpected (in a good way…)

We also had a productive discussion about publishers, agents and submitting work in which we were able to call upon the differing experiences of our group. The publishing world is very fast-moving and it’s important to keep up to date with developments and opportunities.

The late afternoon workshops featured readings from poems to novel extracts to writing developed from one of our morning exercises. As ever, there was a great variety with plenty of constructive feedback from the rest of the group.  We also divided into groups for a précis task which was a bit like consequences but with the aim being to précis the previous writing rather than continue the story. The results were hilarious.

The food was better than ever, the hospitality second to none. Only the weather let us down (first time ever) but even the calima (sandstorm) provided an er… interesting experience.

The final night of ‘Desert Island Discs’ finished off another fabulous fun and productive week at the Finca el Cerrillo. Roll on July… (And for more information check out my previous post ‘February at the Finca’ and the Trip Advisor site below)

https://bit.ly/3KFPEjO

 

I Am Editing…

Sometimes I feel as if I spend more time editing than writing although of course editing is writing, and equally important a process in the journey.

But as novelists, what should we do when we are editing? What should we be looking for? What needs to change?

Here are my top tips for editing the Rosanna Ley way.

1. Print it out – it’s so much easier to spot repetitions, over-long paragraphs, breaks in flow etc when you read it on the actual page. And quite fun to scribble all over it…
2. 5 Ws. Read one scene at a time and at the end of each scene ask yourself – does it cover the 5 Ws (where/ who/ when/ what/ why). In each scene the reader should know where the action is taking place, who is involved – and how they are developing as a character –  when it’s happening, what is going on – in terms of plot – and some sense of character motivation.
3. Balance. Also at scene end check the writing is balanced. For example: have you included massive chunks of description and forgotten about internal thought and dialogue? Have you included lots of explanation but not kept the scene active? Worst of all have you bored your reader to tears..?
4. Continuity – if James has blue eyes in Chapter 1 does he still have blue eyes at chapter 40? Have you written something early on which you have entirely forgotten about during the later chapters? (Easily done).
5. Narrative Time – does this make sense? Is it chronological and if not, why not? Are the right things happening in the right season at the right time of day? How much time has passed since the previous scene and how have you signalled this to the reader? Give each scene a time of day and a date to check on time passing. It is key to authenticity which allows your reader to suspend their disbelief and stay in the world of your novel.
6. Structure – are the chapters and scenes in the right place? Have you considered your points of tension and where they occur? Does your story sag in the middle and if so, what can you do about it?
7. Lay-out – Have you left the right gaps in the right places, presented each chapter in the same way, used italics consistently…? This is a point of professionalism which your editor will appreciate.
8. Fine-tuning – do the sentences flow? Are there too many adjectives? Repetitions? Favourite words that you have used again and again and again… Are there any clunky phrases or ‘darlings’ which need to be cut? (For ‘darlings’ read expressions/words /phrases/ images which you love and which are terribly clever but may not fit in with the narrative and are there for the wrong reasons). Check punctuation and grammar too.
9. Reading Aloud – nothing will alert you to all the pitfalls above as effectively as reading aloud. To yourself or to a patient friend…
10. Get Feedback – it’s important though to ask the right person. A helpful friend who might also be a reader of your book is perfect but he/she must be honest and constructive rather than congratulatory or destructive. (Family members are probably best avoided for this task). Listen to the feedback, consider it and then decide whether or not to take it on board. It’s your novel, after all…

P.S Editing is a time-consuming and absorbing task, which is why this is my first post since last November…